Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: Break Free (3)
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Shh! Shiiik!
The intruder charged forward without hesitation.
The Thunder Prison was pitch-black, so dark you couldn't see an inch ahead. Light had been completely banished from this place. Yet the intruder raced ahead as if strolling through his own backyard.
Four Thousand Four gauged the speed of the man running with his eyes closed.
'Fast!'
The intruder's movement technique was dazzlingly swift. Considering this was the Thunder Prison, it could be called the pinnacle of lightness skills.
Among the masters Four Thousand Four had seen in the martial world so far, the Wasp Lord was undoubtedly the greatest. He had later dodged Muyoungbi as well, but it was far clumsier compared to the Wasp Lord's evasion.
There was a vast gap between the Wasp Lord and Chahu.
Yet this intruder was in no way inferior to the Wasp Lord. If the two clashed, it was impossible to say who would win. Judging his martial arts solely from his movement technique carried a high risk of error, but Four Thousand Four was all but certain.
Sskt!
The intruder groped along the wall. Suddenly, the stone wall ahead slid open with a rumble, and bright light poured out.
"Eek!"
The warriors inside the chamber jumped to their feet in shock.
The intruder struck without mercy. Before the warriors could fully stand, his sword had already drawn blood.
Swish! Shuuut! Swish!
It was a astonishingly quick sword.
Two torches burned brightly in the chamber.
The intruder's figure flickered in the torchlight. The shadows of the falling warriors stretched across the walls.
Sskt! Ssuut! Groooar!
The intruder groped the wall with practiced ease, without a moment's hesitation. Another wall slid open.
The intruder was intimately familiar with the mechanisms in the Thunder Prison. He also knew the maze like the back of his hand.
Who was he? An insider?
Who among the insiders possessed martial arts on par with the Wasp Lord?
Four Thousand Four closed his eyes and sensed the direction he was being pulled.
It wasn't the way they'd come into the Thunder Prison. He was heading somewhere completely different. The swaying felt unfamiliar.
The intruder was escaping through another passage.
But at one point, the intruder's steps began to falter.
"Hm?"
The intruder let out a faint groan of surprise.
There was a wall ahead where he was running. It should have been open there.
The intruder groped the wall with his hand.
"So the Old Stele Soul-Suppressing Formation has activated."
The intruder muttered to himself.
"If the Old Stele Soul-Suppressing Formation is added to the Angang Miroi... the center shifts left three zhang... Hm! There it is."
Shiiit!
The intruder picked up speed again.
'This guy!'
Four Thousand Four pieced together the intruder's identity from his mutterings.
His hearing was sharp. He could pick up even the tiniest sounds. And he rarely forgot a voice he'd heard once.
He'd heard this voice before.
'Mian Xiaoshao!'
Yes, it was Mian Xiaoshao.
Mian Xiaoshao was from the Zhuge Clan...
"Hm?"
The presumed Mian Xiaoshao let out another nasal hum.
"Ah! The Old Stele Soul-Suppressing Formation shifts its central axis every one da of tea. So this time, it's two zhang to the right?"
Shiiiit!
The intruder accelerated once more.
It seemed someone had explained the mechanisms to the intruder.
But was such a thing even possible? Could unfamiliar mechanisms be deciphered just from a few words of explanation?
No, it couldn't. Even if Mian Xiaoshao was the world's greatest genius, this was impossible. The only way would be if someone intimately familiar with the Thunder Prison dictated the escape routes accounting for time shifts.
Four Thousand Four thought of Zhuge Susu.
A beautiful woman... a woman beautiful even in spirit... and wiser than anyone.
She would know all about the Old Stele Soul-Suppressing Formation and Angang Miroi the intruder mentioned. She could guide him through the escape passages by time without ever seeing the Thunder Prison herself.
Four Thousand Four read Zhuge Susu's influence in Mian Xiaoshao's movements.
The Old Stele Soul-Suppressing Formation and Angang Miroi were breached without issue.
Angang Miroi was the greatest maze of all time, ancient or modern. Enter the Thunder Prison without knowing it, and you'd never escape. The human bones scattered throughout Angang Miroi were proof.
When an intruder appeared, the Old Stele Soul-Suppressing Formation was activated.
The Old Stele Soul-Suppressing Formation shifted Angang Miroi every very short interval of one da of tea.
The old Angang Miroi vanished, and a new one took its place.
From that moment, all warriors in the Thunder Prison had to halt and wait in place. Moving even a single step meant a one-way trip to the afterlife.
The Old Stele Soul-Suppressing Formation activated the mechanisms as well.
A chamber that appeared perfectly safe could turn into a death trap.
If any living thing moved, a deadly absolute formation unfolded, slaughtering without distinguishing friend from foe.
Only two people could navigate through it.
The Wasp Lord and Chahu!
The combination of the Old Stele Soul-Suppressing Formation and Angang Miroi was unknown to the world. Only Little Wasp's Wasp Lord and Chahu knew. It was the Little Wasp's greatest secret, unknown to anyone else.
It had taken the Wasp Lord a full year to comprehend the combination. Chahu as well. Chahu had taken a year and six months, though some pretense was involved.
This Thunder Prison had been built by Master Sekhyeon, the foremost authority on mechanisms. Upon completion, he had lamented, "A prison that could hold even Yama, King of Hell."
Those were Master Sekhyeon's last words.
A true Thunder Prison must have no one who knows its secrets. The difference between one loose lip and two was vast. Especially when the Little Wasp's interests went beyond mere construction.
In other words, no one knew the Thunder Prison's secrets now.
So what was this guy? Where had he learned of the Old Stele Soul-Suppressing Formation? A formation utterly unknown to the world. He was neutralizing both the maze and mechanisms flawlessly.
"Zhuge Susu. Heh heh!"
The Wasp Lord let out a bitter laugh.
Deciphering mechanisms from diagrams alone was impossible. Especially when two formations were combined... Only a confluence of coincidences made it feasible.
First, there had to be a traitor inside providing detailed information on the Thunder Prison.
Second, someone capable of comprehending the maze formations of Old Stele Soul-Suppressing and Angang Miroi.
He and Chahu had taken a year just to memorize them after seeing with their own eyes. How much harder to grasp from diagrams alone?
The opponent needed a heaven-sent intellect.
North Bright, South Small!
Not North Bright. North Bright commanded no forces. Only Sword Sage and Dao Sage by his side.
Then it was South Small.
The Zhuge Clan currently had no peak master capable of Cloud-Soaring Flight. The clan head, perhaps... No, there was one. An outsider personally invited by the Zhuge clan head.
The Heavenly Annihilation Division had information on him.
Mian Xiaoshao Tai Pengfei!
The Tai surname was rare in the Central Plains. Tai (太) or Tai (泰) appeared occasionally, but Tai (苔), meaning moss, was unheard of anywhere.
Thus, Tai Pengfei's origins should have been easy to trace. But no clues emerged. Not his sect, master, or even hometown.
The intruder was Mian Xiaoshao Tai Pengfei.
Zhuge Susu had explained the Old Stele Soul-Suppressing Formation and Angang Miroi to Mian Xiaoshao Tai Pengfei.
"The Zhuge Clan is asking for trouble. They underestimated the Little Wasp too much. Heh heh! We return as we receive."
Killing intent flickered in the Wasp Lord's eyes.
"Halt!"
Someone blocked the intruder's path.
The intruder stopped. He shoved Four Thousand Four against the wall and faced off against the blocker.
"Chahu?"
"You know quite a bit. About our Little Wasp."
"I know nothing. I was told that if the formation activates, either the Wasp Lord or Chahu would block me. Judging by the voice, it's not the Wasp Lord, so I guessed."
"It's Chahu."
"Step aside. You're no match for me."
"Mian Xiaoshao Tai Pengfei. Delusional. Do you really think you're beyond me?!"
Chahu raised both hands.
He gripped a long staff.
The staff was embedded in the left and right walls, rippling with every movement of his hands.
"Hahaha! Aren't you ashamed of 'Chahu'? Relying on mere mechanisms."
"It's the advantage of terrain. Fighting in my own bedroom—surely allowing you one move first isn't wrong?"
"No, it's not."
Mian Xiaoshao grinned broadly.
But his true feelings weren't smiling. Others might not notice, but Four Thousand Four knew.
The moment Chahu appeared, Mian Xiaoshao had dropped Four Thousand Four. It was the same as not attacking immediately but waiting for an opening. Attacking wouldn't be easy.
Ssuu ut!
Mian Xiaoshao subtly circulated his qi.
Until moments ago, he'd been breathing. Now, he'd stopped. Like a dead man, his breath completely cut off.
Not that he wasn't breathing. It had sunk so low it was imperceptible. Continuous, steady... his qi stretched thin and long.
'It's not him.'
Four Thousand Four's eyes gleamed.
He'd thought the breath he'd sensed in the Thunder Prison belonged to Mian Xiaoshao. Since he'd appeared so suddenly. That breath had led him to comprehend a new inner cultivation method—a great boon.
But no. The breath from Mian Xiaoshao was entirely different.
Letting arms and legs hang limp... relaxed like someone still unconscious... breathing. Waiting until breath and qi merged as one. Only Muyoungbi could pierce this crisis.
"No choice then. If you won't clear the way, I'll have to force through."
"Heh heh heh! Is that so? Then I have no choice either. If you insist on breaking through now, I'll have to kill Four Thousand Four."
Mian Xiaoshao couldn't be stopped. If he wanted to escape, he had to be let go. But not Four Thousand Four. Mian Xiaoshao had already released him. He couldn't grab him again.
"Do you know?"
"Know what?"
"Someone told me someone would block my path. Chahu or the Wasp Lord. And to release Four Thousand Four immediately and escape alone. This is exactly that situation."
"Heh heh! Then escape alone."
Gruk!
Chahu twitched the staff slightly. A foul odor wafted from all sides.
Poison! Toxic smoke!
The walls held toxic fumes sealed within. A mere twitch of the staff, and it billowed out.
Chahu was applying pressure.
What will you do? Die together? Or flee alone?
"That person really doesn't get it. They said Chahu or the Wasp Lord would block me, and to release Four Thousand Four then. Why don't you believe me?"
Shiiit!
Mian Xiaoshao moved.
He'd already circulated his qi. Power gathered in his hands. And feet.
Cloud-Soaring Flight activated.
"Hahaha!"
Chahu laughed loudly and swung the staff with full force.
Chwaaaak! Papapapap!
Dozens of holes opened in the walls all around. Hidden weapons poured out—dozens of types, hundreds, no, thousands.
Toxic smoke billowed thickly.
The moment Chahu swung, he retreated sharply.
Guroong! Kwang!
As Chahu pulled back, a massive stone door crashed down from the ceiling.
The stone door sealed the spot where Chahu had stood.
Mian Xiaoshao was gone. Chahu had retreated swiftly but couldn't catch the Cloud-Soaring Flight. Mian Xiaoshao had escaped the passage before the door fell.
The only one left inside was Four Thousand Four.
Mian Xiaoshao had truly abandoned him and fled alone.